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International Survey of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Field Test has started in Kazakhstan

The Field Test of the International Survey of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will be held from August 1 to September 30, 2016 in Astana and 4 regions of Kazakhstan (Aktobe, East-Kazakhstan, Kostanay and South-Kazakhstan regions).

The project is coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The PIAAC National Coordinator in Kazakhstan is JSC “Information-Analytic Center” of the Ministry of Education and Science.

PIAAC is a large-scale study of Literacy, Numeracy, and Computer Literacy (basic competencies) among adults aged 16-65. There are 37 countries participating in PIAAC, including 28 OECD member states.

In Kazakhstan 1765 randomly sampled people will be involved into the survey.

Main Study will be conducted in 2017 with 5 882 adults from Kazakhstan taking part in it. They will proportionally represent the country based on such socio-demographic characteristics as gender, age, education, employment status and place of living.

Basic competencies of adult population will be surveyed either computer or paper based depending on the level of respondent’s ICT skills by the interviewers of the Research Institute “Public Opinion”.

Participation of Kazakhstan in PIAAC will allow to:

* create statistical database for policy-makers in the sphere of education and employment;

* get independent international assessment of the potential and competitiveness of country’s adult tpopulation;

* measure the effectiveness of the education system in terms of preparing people for labor market;

* produce recommendations for developing and implementing the lifelong learning system in Kazakhstan.

Based on PIAAC and its preceding studies result many countries have taken a number of political decisions. For instance, in Slovakia, where a quarter of population turned out to be computer illiterate, was introduced Programme “Digipedia 2020” aimed at developing computer skills of teachers and school students. Estonia has adopted Strategy “Active Ageing” to open up educational opportunities for population aged 50+.